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WAIMEA, Hawaii -- When a west Hawaii developer once proposed to segregate "affordable" housing well away from the developer's main project, Hawaii County Councilman Spencer Kalani Schutte responded with an unprintable reference to a bull's derriere. Spencer Kalani Schutte,
Big Isle rancher and
former Council
member, dies at 65By Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondentA bull-sized man himself, the 6-foot 4-inch Schutte, who weighed around 300 pounds, was remembered yesterday as a man who fought for housing for the poor, the homeless, the retarded and the elderly.
Schutte, 65, died at home on his ranch yesterday after a long fight with cancer.
Born on Oahu, the giant Schutte played football at Roosevelt High, then went on the become Honolulu's biggest motorcycle cop at 340 pounds. He was part of the Honolulu "metro squad" before moving to a Hawaiian Homes ranch in Waimea on the Big Island in 1962.
Besides ranching, Schutte had a pig farm, worked construction, skippered a fishing boat, and operated a meat market.
He was elected to the County Council in 1980 and remained there until 1994.
"What I remember most is Kalani's deep-founded compassion for the less fortunate, especially in the area of housing," said his former campaign chairman, Billy Bergin.
"Kalani was a doer. He saw to it that over 1,000 affordable units were built for needy people," said Scott Leithead, who headed the county Housing Agency overseen by Schutte.
Leithead was with Schutte in a helicopter flying over proposed affordable housing sites at Waikoloa when Schutte made the testy reference to a bull's rump.
"I almost fell out of the helicopter," Leithead said.
Besides housing, Schutte also saw to it that the county acquired the first spouse-abuse shelter in Hilo. Before that, abused women and children were placed in police cells for their safety, Leithead said.
Schutte was physically tough. Paddling a "haari" boat in an Okinawan festival, he missed a stroke, said Council chairman Jimmy Arakaki. Later he went to the hospital where tests showed he'd had a heart attack.
Later, he returned to government to collect millions of dollars in delinquent property taxes.
A memorial service for Schutte will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Dodo Mortuary in Hilo. His ashes will be scattered at sea later.
Schutte is survived by his wife Louella; sons Joey, Zanga, and Guy Schutte, and Lance and Lawrence Stevens; daughters Wendy Brophy, Bonnie Sanchez, and Tita Taniguchi; brothers Fred and Clarence, sister Maha Kraan; 18 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.